April 2, 2012

Burma Revels in Freedom from Fear

At party headquarters, it was the party to end all parties. For too long, the bumpy, betel-stained strip of pavement in front of the Rangoon office of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Burma’s opposition party, felt like a no-go zone. Burmese would walk quickly past, averting their gaze from the celllike confines of the political office within, where diehard supporters of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi persevered in their unlikely campaign to bring democracy to one of the world’s most oppressed nations. Across the street, at an outdoor tea shop, agents from the regime’s much feared Special Branch — with their trademark white oxford shirts, dark sarongs and sunglasses — stalked with telephoto lenses those who dared to enter the NLD headquarters.

have dreamed for many years of seeing Aung San Suu Kyi elected to parliament and watching thousands of people celebrating in the streets. Yet, while the scenes made me happy, I also felt a strange emptiness inside.We always... more ››